Charles Onye Kamuo
14 August 2003
Awka — A pentecostal pastor with the Grace of God Mission, Oroma-Etiti, Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State, Pastor Ugwumba, is now cooling his heels in police custody for allegedly having a hand in the murder of a Catholic priest at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in the area, Rev. Fr Gilbert Ohai.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Anambra State Police Command, Mr Kolapo Shofoluwe, who confirmed the incident during a press conference in Onitsha last Wednesday, said Pastor Ugwumba was already in police net and that investigation into the murder of Ohai was continuing.
Rev. Father Ohai, the police image maker said, was two weekends ago found killed in his house inside the church premises by people suspected to be armed robbers.
The priest, it was learnt, had just returned from Onitsha where he went for debriefing by the Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha, His Grace, Dr Albert K. Obiefuna. No sooner had he returned on the fateful day, and briefed seminarians in the parish on the outcome of his meeting with the archbishop than the hoodlums came calling as he made to retire into his house.
City Diary checks revealed that three armed men had met him in his sitting room, took him at gun point into his bedroom, where they asked him to bring the money allegedly given to him by the bishop at Onitsha.
But the priest denied he was given any money. The answer was said to have infuriated the hoodlums, who were not satisfied with his response.
Subsequently, the unwanted visitors ransacked every nook and cranny of his house in search of money and on finding none shot him thrice on the head.
On hearing the sound of the gun shots, the seminarians, who he had just addressed, it was gathered, rushed down to his house to find the Rev. Fr. in his own pool of blood, dead.
One of the cathecists at the Holy Cross Catholic Church, Oroma-Etiti, who spoke to City Diary on condition of anonymity, described the murdered priest as very humble and kind, stating that he was always paying school fees of indigent members of the community as well as the hospital bills of the elderly and children within the parish.
The community, he emphasised, had vowed to assist the police to unmask the circumstances leading to the assassination of the priest. The suspect, Pastor Ugwumba, was handed over to the police for allegedly being connected with the murder by the people.
The Bishop Obiefuna, who spoke immediately after the press briefing by the police on the incident, expressed shock at the incident, stating that the Catholic Council in Onitsha Diocese had made formal reports to the police.
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